Parking in downtown Decatur is about to get a whole lot tougher for those not willing to open their wallets.

A DeKalb County employee reported in FFAF – and the city has confirmed – that the DeKalb County parking deck at the corner of Trinity Place and Commerce Drive, once free in the evening after 6p and on weekends, will soon be charging for parking.  According to the employee, the county has “hired a vendor to manage parking in the courthouse deck and also for the lot behind the Maloof building.”

They went on to say that they are “Not sure what the price will be, but parking will no longer be free after 5:00 p.m. and on weekends.”

Street parking in Decatur is still free after 6p Monday thru Saturday and all day on Sunday.  But without the release valve of the free DeKalb County deck, one would assume those street spots will be even tougher to snag in the future.

And in case you now have a sudden urge to study up on available parking around Decatur, here’s a helpful map that’s posted on the City’s website…

For many years, Decatur had a sort of gentleman’s agreement with its residents regarding Saturday street parking.

If you had been around long enough, you discovered that the PALS – who write the city’s parking tickets – didn’t work on Saturdays, so while all official Decatur documentation about metered parking said that you needed to pump coins (and more recently credit cards) into the meters on Saturday, those “in the know” could save some cash on Saturdays.

However, with the installation of the upgraded meters last year, we were told that the city was evaluating commencing Saturday parking enforcement.  Well, apparently the evaluation period has ended and the city has decided to deploy the PALS on Saturdays too.

Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne confirmed with us that after 6 months of passing out warnings at expired meters, the city is now actively ticketing on Saturdays.

So be aware Decaturites!  Until 6p on Saturdays you now must to feed the meter or risk a ticket

Parking remains free of charge after 6p Monday-Saturday and all day Sunday.  More info on Decatur parking rules and locations on the city’s website HERE.

Photo courtesy of Marla Tiara

Also on the agenda for tonight’s Decatur City Commission meeting – adopting the always-thrilling “fee schedule” for the coming year.

There actually are a few interesting items that are either being added or increasing this year, not least of which is the fee at metered parking spots increasing from $1.50 an hour to $2.

The City’s Meredith Roark summarized the following revisions to the fee schedule in a letter to City Manager Peggy Merriss…

• Cemetery – – Increasing the interment, cinerarium and cremains burial fees.

• Public Safety – – Adding a food truck inspection fee. ($25)

• Parking – – Increasing the parking meter fee to $2 per hour. (In 14-15, the fee was $1.50 per hour.)

• Recreation – – Adjusting facility rental fee dues to increased use of Decatur and Ebster Recreation Centers. – Adjusting camp and class fees for various Active Living and Children & Youth Service offerings.

• Revenue – – Adding a duplicate FiFa release fee. ($12) – Increasing the fee for insufficient funds when paying by check to $50. (In 14-15, the fee was $35.)

• Special Events – – Adding a Run/Walk permit fee. ($150 fee plus $250 sanitation bond.)

Noticed this guy along West Ponce yesterday across from Taqueria.

They’re relatively new right?

Or perhaps this is just evidence that I’m oblivious to the world around me.

Another item on tonight’s Decatur City Commission meeting agenda: a change order of approximately $13,000 to include three more multi-space pay stations along Ponce where previously, single space meters were originally planned.  The change order letter from Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne also states that after months of planning, the new parking meters are scheduled to be installed next week, June 23rd – 26th.

There’s also been talk around here of late about the start of Saturday parking enforcement.

Decatur has long had stated metered times on Saturday, but hasn’t enforced those limits.  Menne tells DM that when that occurs, the city may start out just enforcing the 2 hour limit, but not ticketing.  Menne says the city is still gathering information on how spaces are being used on Saturday and the approach to Saturday enforcement is “still a work in progress but whatever we do will involve a lot of public notice before tickets are issued.  Our goal is not to ticket.  Our goal is keep the best, most convenient on-street spaces turning over so customers have a reasonable expectation of finding a parking space.”

Last week, we posted about the upcoming Unified Development Ordinance community input session surrounding Sustainability this Wednesday at City Hall from 7p-9p.  Now we have a bit more info of the “green performance” issues that will be discussed, and man are they varied.

Courtesy of Decatur Next…

High Performance Buildings
High performance building is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle — from design, construction, operation, and maintenance, to renovation and deconstruction. Such buildings reduce energy costs, improve indoor air quality, and provide greater, more consistent comfort. We’ll detail high performance building practices that could be incorporated into Decatur’s ordinance, along with their potential long-term costs and benefits.

Some of these most common performance issues are nicely summarized in this cool interactive overview from Southface.

Outdoor Lighting Standards
Decatur currently lacks regulations to reduce light pollution, despite increasing scientific research on the negative health and environmental impacts of excessive lighting at night. Potential changes to the ordinance include regulations about the types and placement of fixtures to control the unnecessary spread of light.

Animals
Chickens have become quite popular in Decatur, contributing to food, fun, gardening and education. Is everything working okay or does the number of chickens on any one lot need to be restricted? And what about potbellied pigs and pygmy goats? Should they be explicitly allowed or prohibited? Because, currently, the code is unclear either way.

Unbundled Parking
Today, parking is bought indirectly through the lease or purchase price of a property, which — beyond the environmental impacts of excessive parking — works against our affordable housing goals because it forces buyers and tenants to purchase parking, even if they have no car (or have fewer cars). Unbundling treats parking as separate from housing and allows tenants to save money by only buying what they need. People are still free to purchase what they require but those who need or choose to live without a car are no longer penalized.

Another item on the agenda for tonight’s Decatur City Commission meeting – new parking meters!

Here are the details of the planned upgrade in a letter from Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne to the Commission…

[The parking management company has] developed a plan that uses a mix of single space and multi-space meter equipment that will utilize license plate recognition rather than a”pay and display”receipt option. Customer scan pay using credit, debit and smart card options as well as coins and have the option to set up prepaid accounts on-line tied to their cell phone. All of the on-street meter equipment is solar-powered.

In addition to the meter equipment, we will purchase upgraded, hand-held ticketing units, improved collection equipment that will enhance the security and tracking of revenue collections and court and collection software that will allow for the integration of citations directly into the court system and provide for more efficient and effective parking fine collections.